What have we been up to?

Well..... long time no post eh? We can all agree that I am a very lousy blogger. Thanksgiving has come and gone. With it the pies and delectable leftovers... including two turkeys. One was a regular , cheap , store turkey for the people who didn't care and the other was smaller but pasture raised from a local farm for the people that DID care. Originally we wanted to see if we could get the thing live and do our own turkey butchering but that didn't work out. Someone else got that fun. It would have  been a neat new tradition though... and we could have taken pictures of the whole thing and then displayed them for the guests at the feast. Now wouldn't that give them an appetite? "Tonight you will be consuming Henry... here are pictures of him when he had feathers.... notice how bright his combs were? How plump he looks. Now he is being bled out... now plucked .... Elly May is gutting here.... Who wants turkey? " 
                           We had squash pie made by yours truly made from a Galeux D' Eysines squash grown by yours truly. I was so proud. We made pumpkin ice cream with it too and boy was that a treat.  I was good and I had a total of two bites of pie and maybe a spoonful of ice cream.... it was enough to have a decent taste without making me sick from the sugar.
            Now all the leftovers are gone , the kitchen is back to the normal routine.  Except today we had all the hot water shut off because we are getting new copper pipes. Apparently our old galvanized were over 100 years old and so full of crud it was amazing we got any water out of them at all. We think that is where the heavy metals and arsenic are coming from that have made the garden a toxic waste dump. At least we hope that is where it is coming from because otherwise that was a lot of trouble re piping for nothing. I hope it makes a difference as I'd love to get back to gardening by next spring or summer at least . The backyard looks like WW1 with trenches everywhere . I was so thrilled today when I turned on the faucet in the duck pen and actually got water . It has been off for a few days and having to use an alternate hose from farther away was getting to be quite the chore.

                    Last week we took a field trip south of here to go to a candy store .... well for me anyway . It was a guitar shop (and other instruments.. but mostly guitar) . I'd actually  bought my first banjo from them about 5 years ago. But I didn't have to go down there to buy it as they were up our way at a bluegrass festival. ANYway... I'd been in the market for a new guitar for awhile and had been doing recon trips to several shops around here and was only successful in finding things I didn't like or were really nice but way out of my spending range. I also got into trouble when I fell in love with another banjo. I've had a Deering Golden Era for a long time which is fantastic for the bluegrass stuff and I use it for teaching, but I also love the clawhammer style and that kind of calls for a different style banjo. I'd had a Vega Old Tyme Wonder for years that I'd snagged off ebay a few years ago but it never had that old, plunky sound I was looking for . We'd tried changing the action, the head.. the strings, the bridge... still not plunky. Very echo-ey... but not plunky. I'd toyed with selling it for a long time but I needed to find one I liked to replace it first.  Soooo.. on a guitar research trip, I pick one of the banjos of the wall..... and I play it... and I want to cry. It is that wonderful plunky , old timey sound... It called to me... it moved me in a way I can't put into words other than I fell completely in love with it on the spot and knew that was it. But I wasn't going to pay what they were asking for it. So I walked away .
                I looked online though and found this other store had one for less.... and they take trade ins..... And they have guitars.... lots and lots of them. So down we went. I found my banjo (a Wildwood )  , compared it to the Omes .. the Bart Reiders... even a VERY plunky fretless model ... and I still loved it the best. So with that out of the way I moved on to the guitars and found that $5000 + guitars sound VERY nice..... But I do not have a sugar daddy nor am I independently wealthy so that was a no go... I eventually found a used Taylor in mint condition that played like butter that I could actually buy without going into debt... which I refused to do. I blew all may savings that day and I'm broke but very very happy. The Taylor is big and boomy and vibrates my ribs . And it is loud enough to not be drowned out by a banjo. And since it is so very loud it makes me sing louder so I can hear myself over the guitar.
                      Coming home with them both on the same day made me feel like I'd won the lottery. And I was so happy for the looking to be over. That was getting quite tiring. Now my fingers are shredded with peeling callouses from playing so much but that is just fine with me. I feel very blessed. I prayed so hard beforehand that I'd get the right instruments... the ones that were meant to be mine. And it sure feels like He answered that one.